Nats rough up Rockies

Colorado's Cabrera struggles in MLB debut

DENVER -- Jordan Zimmermann pitched seven strong innings, Ryan Zimmerman and Tyler Moore both homered for the second straight game and the Washington Nationals beat the Colorado Rockies 11-5 on Wednesday night.

Moore finished with three hits, Ian Desmond also went deep and Bryce Harper had two hits for the Nationals, who had another big outburst at the plate. Washington scored nine runs once in its first 71 games before accomplishing the feat on consecutive nights against the Rockies.

Marco Scutaro had two hits and two RBIs for Colorado, which matched the Nationals with 14 hits but lost for the 16th time in 20 games.

The Nationals battered Rockies pitching again, one day after setting club marks for hits and extra-base hits since moving to Washington. They roughed up starter Edwar Cabrera, who was making his major league debut after getting called up from Double-A.

Washington wasted no time introducing the 24-year-old to the big leagues. Moore hit a two-run homer as part of a three-run second inning, and Zimmerman and Desmond hit solo shots in the third when the Nationals tacked on four more to make it 8-0.

It was enough for Zimmermann (4-6), who picked up his first win since May 22. The Nationals' hard-luck pitcher -- he entered the game with a 2.89 ERA -- made the most of his run support, allowing eight hits while walking three and striking out one over seven innings.

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